LINCOLN — STEWART 429 



families 210 and 35 times, respectively ; and that for all other members 

 of families these names are recorded 987 and 177 times, respectively. 

 There is every reason to believe, therefore, that our Lincoln was a 

 product of the seventeenth-century Anglo-Saxon migration to the New 

 World. The later descendants of this group have been called "Old 

 Americans." 



The physical characteristics of the Old Americans were first de- 

 scribed in 1925 by my predecessor in the National Museum, the late 

 Dr. Ales Hrdlicka. His sample was drawn partly from Virginia and 

 Tennessee and includes both mountain and lowland people. More 

 specifically he felt justified in including in this group — 



those Americans whose ancestors on each side of the family were born in the 

 United States for at least two generations — in other words, all those whose 

 parents as well as all four grandparents were born in this country. The third 

 native generation of adults means roughly an ancestry on each side of the family 

 of at least 80 to 150 years American. As a matter of fact the mean "nativity" 

 of those examined was nearer the latter than the former figure and for the 

 whole series it probably surpassed an average of 150 years, for there were many 

 who on one or both sides exceeded the minimum requirement of three genera- 

 tions. In a large majority of cases the American ancestry of the one examined, 

 while only three or four generations on one side, extended to from four to eight 

 generations on the other ; and there were fairly numerous instances where the 

 ancestry was pure native on both sides for four generations, while occasionally 

 it was five, six and in a few cases even seven generations (Hrdlicka, 1925, 

 pp. 4-5.) 



Hrdlicka's sample of Old Americans dates from the 1920's. Thus 

 it comprises elements of at least the second and third generations after 

 Lincoln's generation. Although there is good reason to believe that 

 the American population at large has been changing in its average 

 physical characteristics over the years, probably not much change 

 has taken place in this particular group. On the other hand, 

 Hrdlicka's sample — less than 1,000 individuals— leaves much to be de- 

 sired by way of adequate inclusion of all elements of this widespread 

 population. This deficiency perhaps is reflected especially in the 

 ranges of characters. In spite of this defect, Hrdlicka's Old Ameri- 

 cans is as near as we can get now to the population from which Lincoln 

 arose. Therefore, we will rely upon his figures for our main com- 

 parisons. 



Stature. — Lincoln gives his height as "6 feet 4 inches, nearly" (letter 

 to J. W. Fell, Dec. 20, 1859; for facsimile see Oldroyd, 1883, p. 482). 

 That he was well above average in height is evident from Brady's 

 photographs of the President with his generals at the battlefield 

 (Meserve and Sandburg, 1944) . Also, there are personal recollections 

 of "his great height towering head and shoulders above them all" 

 .(Rankin, 1916, p. 207). 



Lincoln probably came by this great stature naturally, as the saying 

 goes. His father was 5 feet 10 inches; his mother, 5 feet 7 inches 



